Recession Antidote—It’s never too late to find your calling

Hard times seem to be here for most everyone, but they are especially hard for the 50+ crowd. The unemployment rate for senior workers rose in April of this year to its highest level on record. The Federal Bureau of Labor Statistics results as reported in AARP Bulletin Today state that nearly 1.85 million people age 55 and older were out of work in April. The gloom continues with the shrinking of retirement funds and home loss among family and friends. Stress abounds with all its symptoms: fatigue; loss of memory, appetite and sleep; digestive problems; muscle tension; weakened immunity; spiraling blood pressure; depression. YIKES!

We need an antidote! We need role models and mentors to lead the way back to some balanced, healthful happiness. I found such models in Andrea March, Betty Jandl and Betty LaMarr, who are poster women for the guaranteed power of positive thinking from cradle to grave.

All three women have put at least 25 years into careers in business. All three women walked away from those careers and jumped feet first into entrepreneurship (actually, entrepreneurship with a benevolent twist). All three women run entrepreneurial ventures whose missions are to improve the quality of life for all on the planet. All three women are over 50 (and one is way over 50!).

Andrea March
Andrea March has successfully reinvented herself several times as a woman business owner and leader in real estate; in jewelry import and distribution with Andrea March Accessories; as an asset management innovator with Investment Expo; and most recently, with Women’s Leadership Exchange.

The inspiration for Investment Expo came to her as she watched a business program on CNBC, and she realized she had no idea what they were talking about. Like many others, Andrea says, “I did not understand investing, and was probably not the exception-there were undoubtedly millions of people like me, with money to invest and no understanding of how to make smart decisions.” And so Investment Expo was born. Andrea founded and ran the company for the next five years. Investment Expo became the largest financial strategies trade show/seminar program in the Northeast and South Florida, attracting up to 14,000 attendees annually.

Four years later, in 2001, Andrea met Leslie Grossman. The two experienced women business owners shared a powerful commitment to women entrepreneurs like themselves, and that commitment coalesced into Women’s Leadership Exchange (WLE).

WLE is recognized as one of the country’s most effective national business-building networks for women in business. In its seven-year history, WLE’s mission has been to provide the knowledge, tools and connections women need to be successful in their own businesses, the corporate arena, government and non-profit environments. WLE’s vision is to create more women leaders in the world.

Andrea, how did you conceive all of these businesses?
I saw a need. In each of my three businesses I understood the need, because it was also my need. First, it was the need for inexpensive costume jewelry, then the need for women to really understand finances and investment, and ultimately, with WLE, the need for women to grow their business to levels of success that were beyond even their wildest dreams.

What motivates you to keep going?
The business success stories of our conference attendees and the members of our Leadership Executive Circles (LEXCI) Program which offers women entrepreneurs support, information, education and so much more.

How do you keep going in your 60s?
I feel the same way I felt at 25. There just is no difference in how I feel. Half the time I can’t even remember how old I am. I have no time to age. I get excited about waking up every day and being able to do the work that I do. Co-founding the Women’s Leadership Exchange is the fulfillment of my destiny, the culmination of all my previous experience, in business and in life.

Do you ever get discouraged?
NO!

What does it take to be an entrepreneur?
You have to know that what ever entrepreneurial venture you start, there is no question that you will succeed.

What does it take to start an entrepreneurial business?
Finding the business idea for which you know there is a real need, and knowing that by filling that need you will make the world a better place.

What advice would you give to someone over 50 who might like to try an entrepreneurial adventure?
Don’t think of any limitations. The only limitations that exist are the ones you put on yourself. That, “I am too old,” line is just an excuse. Do not think negatively for even one second. Always think positive, even in this current economy!

Betty Jandl
Reverend Betty is the founding minister of the Idyllwild Church of Religious Science in Idyllwild, CA. After raising two daughters, Betty entered the paid workforce for the first time at 45. She needed a job. She had no job skills that she knew of. One day she found herself in a bank parking lot, and she thought, “Maybe I could work there.” She went in, filled out an application, and was interviewed and hired.

“I couldn’t even balance my own checkbook, but there I was, hired by a bank,” Betty says. Fortunately, the teller position for which she was hired was given to someone else and Betty wound up as a clerk in the loan department, where there was no need to balance out at the end of the day. Twenty years later, she retired as the VP of Training and Development for what was then Crocker Bank.

Retirement gave Betty the time to pursue her interest in spiritual studies. She spent several years taking courses and found herself in ministerial school, solely for the education and not for the ministry. She also found herself in Idyllwild, a small mountain community above Palm Springs, CA, with a small group of friends who pressed her to start a church. She told them, “No way! This is a town of 2,500 people and it has nine churches. Those demographics do not support success.” Two weeks later, her original
band of 35 came to her with a bank account and space rented in the Town Hall for her first service. Today, 22 years later, Betty is 83 and her church remains an amazing success story.

How did you do it?
I didn’t do it. God did it. I have the best job in town. I just watch people grow beyond themselves and move on to live better lives. Everything I have ever done I prepared for without realizing I was preparing for it. The organizational skills and demands of running a family prepared me to run the training department of the bank. The business skills learned at the bank prepared me to manage the business side of a church. The lifelong yearning I had to be in a healing profession led me to the business of spiritual healing.

How do you keep going at 83?
I don’t think about it a whole lot. Age is relative except when my knees are really annoying me. I am blessed with extraordinary energy. When you really enjoy what you are doing, it gives you tremendous amounts of energy. I can’t imagine stopping.

Do you ever get discouraged?
Sure I do, but only for a half a day once in awhile. As I tell my congregation, “It’s okay to go through the valley of the shadow of death, but don’t stay long enough to build a condominium.”

What does it take to be an entrepreneur?
You have to be willing to take risks; to live on the edge and not worry about the outcome. For me that attitude makes every Sunday a great adventure.

What advice would you give to someone over 50 who might like to try such an adventure?
Just do it! Get clear about what you want to do. Learn all you can about it. Life presents us with doorways and not closed doors. When you are clear, God moves you forward.

Betty LaMarr
Betty LaMarr worked for 25 years selling and managing both domestically and internationally in the high technology industry (IBM, Digital Equipment Corporation, Silicon Graphics). She managed profit and loss responsibility for $100 million and managed hundreds of employees in diverse disciplines. Subsequently, Betty founded two entrepreneurial organizations, Nadisa Associates and EmpowHer Institute. She is currently running both organizations simultaneously.

Nadisa Associates is a professional coaching and consulting company. Betty founded it with the vision that it would create a support system for leaders in business to live the life they love and make conscious choices that are in alignment with their personal and professional values. The word ‘Nadisa’ means a vehicle by which to channel energy positively. Betty believes that when you use this as a basis for growth and change, extraordinary and sustainable results will occur in all areas of your life.

EmpowHer Institute is a non-profit organization supporting girls and women who desire to start a business or operate an existing business and also those who want a career in business. It offers training and development to empower females both nationally and internationally so they can gain economic freedom through entrepreneurship. EmpowHer Institute offers training in personal development, business planning, marketing, leadership and technology to create business opportunities for girls and women. EHI serves low and moderate-income female business owners and/or women who want to own a business.

How did you create and manage to run two entrepreneurial businesses at the same time?
I know I am here to serve more than just myself. I think that belief is the source of the inspiration and the energy it takes to successfully achieve the vision and mission of both Nadisa and EmpowHer.

Doesn’t being middle-aged slow you down?
It hasn’t yet. Energy feeds on itself. The more I do, the more energy I find I have. I will not stop; I just might one day need to shift gears.

Do you ever get discouraged?
Sure, but I find when I get low my work always lifts me up. Gratitude gives me strength.

What does it take to be an entrepreneur?
You have to let go of others’ definitions of success. Be willing to design your own path. You have to know that taking risks is a learning experience. If you fail it has to be okay with you. You have to be able to say, “Lesson learned,” and then move on.

What advice would you give to someone over 50 who might like to try such an adventure?
You need to ask yourself, “Is this really what I want to be doing with my life right now?” Get clear on what you do want to do and then step out and just do it. Share your stories with others who have not had the same privileges you have had. You will be amazed at the love and energy that comes back to you.

Andrea March, Betty Jandl and Betty LaMarr are all very happy women. Happiness is the way for them. It is the foundation of their lives. All three of these vibrant women express common themes that have helped them to be happy and, more importantly, stay that way.

As Thich Nhat Hanh, Vietnamese Zen Buddhist monk, teacher, author, poet and peace activist (and like Betty Jandl, age 83) says, “Happiness is not a point of arrival. Happiness is the way.”

How to Contact These Wonderful Women

Andrea March
Email: amarch@womensleadershipexchange.com
Web: www.womensleadershipexchange.com

Betty Jandl
Email: docbj@verizon.net
Web: www.idyllwildchurch.com

Betty LaMarr
Email: betty@nadisa.com
Web: www.nadisa.com and www.empowher.org

Books to Read

Leap!: What Will We Do with the Rest of Our Lives? by Sara Davidson, ISBN: 978-0345478092
The Third Chapter: Passion, Risk, and Adventure in the 25 Years After 50 by Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot, ISBN: 978-0374275495
Goddesses in Older Women: Archetypes in Women Over Fifty by Jean Shinoda Bolin, M.D., ISBN: 978-0060929237

Carol Segrave is President of Segrave & Associates, an Executive Coaching and Retirement Planning Consulting firm. She can be reached at carol@segraveassociates.com.